Engagement!

Candace & Booker are getting married on May 29, 2010 and have asked me to be their photographer. Such a blessing, these two! I am so excited about this wedding! I hope I am able to do them justice! We went to Old Sacramento on one day and Del Paso Part-of-a-Park...that's what I think of it, because it is NOT set up like a park at all...no parking spaces, no restrooms, etc. But we had fun anyway! Candace and Booker are really very sweet and I always have fun taking their pictures. Can't wait until the wedding!

The In-Laws visit from Las Vegas

So my husband wanted to do something with his parents in town. He decided on Hidden Falls Regional Park near Auburn. Beautiful park with waaaaaaaay too much dog action going on for me! Ok, yeah, I was interested in seeing the falls, but I am by no means a nature girl. An active day for me is walking around at a flea market or mall. My idea of exercise is walking around the block and coming back home to veg or nap! Needless to say, I knew this "hike" wasn't going to be my cup of tea. It seemed ok on the way, but I was mentally thinking about every slope and hill and trying to calculate how hard the trip back would be. Luckily I was distracted by the beauty of the park property. Lush trees, rolling hills and the sound of nearby water. When we got to the falls it was such a nice viewing area that I momentarily forgot the coming return trip. I should have been sitting to regain my stamina. When we did decide that it was time to leave, it was to hurry back to try to connect with someone by a certain time. That didn't make for a relaxing hike back. In fact, we were hurrying and I knew no good could come of that. We tried taking the supposed "easy" path back to the parking lot, but to me it seemed that it was longer, if not so much steeper. With the pressure to get somewhere else by a certain time, we were hiking at a pace that wasn't helped by the fact that I could feel a tinkle coming on. No bathrooms of course, except at the parking area about a mile away. You betcha I did!! I knew I couldn't hold it!! Anyway, it was a beautiful trip that I am STILL feeling the after effects from!!! Can anyone say shin splints?? I wouldn't do it again unless I knew that I could make my way back at my own pace with frequent stops to rest. That eliminates me doing the hike with my husband who set the pace and apparently felt NO PAIN!!! Ugh!!

My 365 is Jive!

ok, I admit it. My 365 is too high maintenance for me. I get a big "F" and end all pretence of trying to get a pic a day. Maybe I should have gone for my 52 or 12! That might have been more manageable. I'm done feeling bad about it. I have a busy life and a family of more than just myself that all share the same computer. I will just post as I get around to it and leave it at that. As it is, it's past midnight and here I am on the computer yawning and trying to decide what might be good enough to post. We'll see.

Day 63

Day 62

Day 61

Day 60

Day 59

Day 58

Day 57

Day 56

Day 55

Day 54

Day 53

Day 52

Day 51

Day 50

Day 49

Day 48

Day 47

Day 46

Day 45

Day 44

Day 43

Day 42

Day 41

Day 40

Day 39

Day 38

Day 37

Day 36

Day 35

Day 34

Day 33

Day 32

Day 31

Day 30

Day 29: 336

Why did men have to be so blessed with eyelashes??? Mine are the short stubby ones. His are long and straight. No fair!

Day 28: 337

Firecracker chicken at Panda. Mmm, just keep those beans! Mandarin chicken is better! Yummo!

Day 27: 338

Beautiful sunset from the 16th floor...especially through those tinted windows! Just like a ready-made polarizer! Or something.

Day 26: 339

And again I say, no pictures today!!

Day 25: 340

Ok, no pics today...

Day 24: 341

Dirty flourescent lights with a spider carcass hanging from it! Uuck!

Day 23: 342

Oh fun! My daughter saw this as we cruised by. On our way back we stopped and had to take a few shots. I wonder if anyone got in trouble for putting soap in the fountain??? I love it!

Day 22: 343

So, I wanna lose weight, but it's way too hard with ice cream and cookies in my life. I LOVE chocolate. I could use a chocolate bar from See's candies right now... ummm, the toffee one.

Day 21: 344

With the cold evenings we've been having here in Northern California, a fire is just the right thing to have. However, I like a true log fire, not those sawdust and kerosene logs. Don't get me wrong, I will throw a duraflame log on in a heartbeat, but I prefer a real wood fire. The smell is something you cannot duplicate. The fuel logs don't smell like a real wood fire. They smell very chemical-ly. Makes me want to light one up right now! I need a cord of dry, seasoned wood. Anybody wanna bring me some?

Day 20: 345

Nothing today....yesterday's weak submission left me a little.....ok, there is no excuse, I'm just lame.

Day 19: 346

Cars on the TV, cars on the floor, cars everywhere! Ok, yeah, I know, that was weak....

Day 18: 347

I love these little mirrors. It's a sun catcher that I bought a while ago. My mother-in-law took me to the outlets in Las Vegas and cha-ching! I found 3 sun catchers. I gave two away and kept the largest one. The sun hits and there is light everywhere! I like to follow the light dots around the wall. Such fun! I'm easy.

Day 17: 348

I think this picture says it all! Sometimes this is just the way I feel. Deep down, I know that I am rooted and grounded in the truth, but this life will make you feel unbalanced, like you can't make sense of things. But I look to the giver of Truth. Hear O Israel the Lord our God is one! Slowly, I have my balance back!

Day 16: 349

Failed again! Nothing to contribute today.

Day 15: 350

YEAH, RIGHT!!
I wish! lol!!!

Day 14: 351

Flarp!
My daughter just had to have it. Interesting stuff.

Day 13: 352

SHURE!

Just thought this was cool...from different angles, but this is one of the sharpest ones I got. Changed to black & white after a tight crop.

Day 12: 353

No pics again.....

Day 11: 354

LEARNING TO KNIT

I've been crocheting off and on since I was twelve. I mean, I let it lapse during my high school and college years, but when I got married and was pregnant with my first child, I tried to pick it up again. That first blanket was SO heavy! There was a lady at my job that saw me crocheting and she used to laugh at me because she saw how I was crocheting and it tickled her. Well, she finally had mercy and showed me how to do it right. I was initially never interested in knitting, but recently I began to wonder if it was something I could learn. My neice tried to teach me a few years ago, but I didn't really take to it. Maybe if I had lived closer (CA and OH, kind of far) I could have kept pestering her to show me more. I have a few ladies at my job that have been super wonderful! They have been so encouraging as I took my first baby steps and knit my first project. Now I've gotten a little more confident and I've begun making hats and scarves. Yeah!! I might have to sell some! :-D Hahaha, baby steps, Tammy, baby steps.

Day 10: 355

Sunday Morning
I was asked to take a family picture but I didn't like what I took. As they split up, the mom to go do something and the dad to take the kids to the car, I got this departing shot. After cropping, I changed it to black & white, then used a warming filter. A little contrast and fill light, and tada, a cool picture. Sure, I wish there were some things not in the shot, like a parking lot with cars and other such extraneous stuff, but given the spontaneous nature of the shot, I'm ok with it. They loved it!!

Day 9: 356

No pictures again.....sad, I know.

Day 8: 357

Now is that gorgeous or WHAT!?!? Finally! Picked up my camera again. I can't explain why it took me three days. I don't know the variety of this tulip, but it's a beauty. The colors are exquisite. I'm not that good with words or I'd be bubbling over with descriptions of the textures and colors in this specimen. It's bonafide!

Day 7: 358

Wow!! Three days in a row and I am still failing!!!

Day 6: 359

Well, I failed again!!! Can't keep this up...

Day 5: 360

Oops, FAIL!!! I didn't do it.

Day 4: 361

I love taking pics of flowers. I saw some dandelions today and wished I had my camera on me. This one is from a bouquet that I had around Christmas time. It lasted quite a long time! There is something about daisies that I love. They aren't my favorite flower, but they have undercover appeal to me. If you turn it over, the back of it is just as interesting as the front. I took a gorgeous picture a couple years ago that I love. Since that one, I have made it a point to take pics of daisies from many different angles. You should try that. Look at something you look at everyday and try to see it from another angle. Take pictures of it and see what you come up with. I like doing that and then cropping in really close until it's a little difficult to identify what you are looking at. I love quizzing people to see if they can tell what it is. Fun times!!

Day 3: 362

Frosty Mug Rootbeer Eyes! Yeah buddy! My daughter and I were debating the color of my eyes. I have always maintained that they are rootbeer brown. She said they looked like dark coffee. WhatEVER!!!

Day 2: 363

Ahhhh, the self portrait. I can't say that I've spent alot of time taking pictures of myself. I'm usually the one taking the pictures, and very few people think to take the camera from me and switch positions. The few times people have done it, I liked what I ended up with. This time, trying to balance the camera on something so it wouldn't fall over, then trying to focus from arms length, well, let's just say that I'm in no hurry to repeat this! I did it first with ambient light. Too yellow. Then I decided to try it with the flash. Better, but no make-up! Ok, so off to the lavatory to play. End result? Make-up and a new realization. I have REALLY bad skin and I should either pay someone to make it look better, or drink lots of water and hope it gets better on its own! Also, I think maybe I'm too old for shimmery make-up, unless I have a really good matte foundation. I may need to go to one of those make-up counters and see what they do to me and get some ideas. I just look old!

Day 1: 364

Haha, this was funny. We traditionally go out for breakfast on New Year's Day and I thought I had forgotten to bring my camera. Well actually, I had forgotten the SLR but I realized on the way home that I had the P&S in my purse so I put it on the dash and tried to focus it. As you can see, the focus was off, but it was hilarious. We took a few more but I decided on the first one to post because it was so silly.